Police are continuing to examine a semi-automatic handgun found in a graveyard to see if it is linked to three killings.
Hundreds of graves were cordoned off and forensic investigators conducted a painstaking examination of the site after the weapon was found on Tuesday, October 19. Officers found the gun along with a number of bullets, and a clip in a Nike bag.
The force says it is in the process of forensically examine the weapon and work will be ongoing to check if it linked to the August murders of Sam Rimmer, Ashley Dale or Olivia Pratt-Korbel.
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Merseyside Police released pictures of the weapon, which does not appear to match the .38 revolver which, according to detectives, fired the fatal shot at nine-year-old Olivia on Kingsheath Avenue, Dovecot, on August 22. However the killer in that case was also carrying a second handgun, used to shoot at his intended target Joseph Nee, which was described by police as a self-loading 9mm Glock handgun.
Police have not publicly revealed the type of firearms used to shoot 28-year-old Miss Dale on Leinster Road, Old Swan, or 22-year-old Mr Rimmer on Lavrock Bank, Dingle. Police can link firearms to previous shootings by examining markings on any bullet fragments recovered from the scene.
Merseyside Police regularly works with the National Ballistics Intelligence Service (NABIS) to identify guns used in criminal shootings.
Detective Inspector John Mullen from the Firearms Investigations Team, said: “Every weapon we seize makes our communities safer, and this gun was stored with ammunition, which could have been used to cause serious harm. We will now conduct forensic work to establish if this is a weapon which has been used before and who has had it in their possession.
"If you have any information on this or other weapons, do the right thing and come forward immediately, as what you know could remove dangerous people and their weapons from the streets of Merseyside."
Charity Crimestoppers has offered a record £200,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of Olivia's killer.
Thomas Cashman, 34, of Grenadier Drive, West Derby, is accused of her murder and is due to stand trial in March.
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